Leaking bath waste but bath is tiled in

[Participant]

Hi all

About 18 months ago we had a new bathroom installed and it looks great, with its fantastic unremovable tiled bath panel maintaining the clean lines .

However we've recently been experiencing slow drainage from the bath, so we used a plunger on the waste, which worked great at freeing up whatever blockage existed...

However, I've just noticed a dripping coming down from the light fitting underneath the bath when it's draining.

I don't really want to rip off the bath panel as it's tiled in, and making it look the same as the surrounding area with new tiles and with the grout and silicone colour will be a nightmare.

What are my options here? I have no comeback with the installer really, since the plunging has clearly caused the leak.

I might be able to access the waste from the room underneath, but that would create holes in the ceiling and a whole load of mess, and I'm not even sure that the waste pipes will be accessible from underneath as they may run above the bathroom floor.

My home insurance doesn't cover plumbing issues.

Any thoughts are gratefully received, thank you.

 

[Participant]

How is it tiled on? Skirting as well?

Like this:



No skirting and snug as a bug in a rug.

Side panel off tbh.

Thinking this might be the ultimate solution unfortunately. Have emailed installer to see if they have any thoughts.

 

[Participant]

you've checked with them that they did not leave some kind of obscure access mechanism .. you could post pictures but you must have inspected it microscopically yourself
[I had thought the plug pull mechansim on ours was nac'd, but even with access seemed probelmatic to maintain it]

Tagging you as posted just before you replied. See pic - I've looked closely at it and there's no access without removing the panel, which I remember was some kind of thick foam affair that they tiled onto.

I did question the lack of access if any problems and they said, as tradesmen do, not to worry as it'll be fine. It might have been had the plunger not been required, though for some reason they left the old waste pipe in situ rather than replacing it with a wider modern plastic one, which I remember thinking was dumb.

 

[Participant]

Installer has come back saying in our case it would be best to access from underneath and cut ceiling / floorboards away to access. Doesn't solve the problem of if it happens again, but I guess I'll worry about that later as it will drive me nuts if the tiles go back on and they and the silicone and grout look different.

This is the ceiling underneath (it was like this before the leak):



As you can see it needs work anyway.

 

[Participant]

Thanks all. If there's access from underneath, I'll probably create an invisible hatch using a plasterboard flap, assuming the bath panel doesn't end up coming off on this occasion.

 

[Participant]

Am I the only one who thinks this is absolute madness ?

you want to cut floorboards ? seriously ?

Well I don't 'want' to, but these boards are not bearing any load so what's the issue with that?

smash

slap

I fear any DIY attempt will very closely reflect those words.

He's coming round on Friday to assess.I can see a scenario where I end up having to pay him extra to create the removable bath panel that he should have created in the first place, as it's out of the 12 month 'workmanship warranty'.

 

[Participant]

Is that one of those baths with the taps and plug hole in the middle?

Yeah, it's a double-ended (heh) bath and that cylinder in the centre of the bath is the bath filler and the overflow. You can just about see the plughole in the centre too.



Bit of a pain for one because one's arse keeps popping it up, but when you're bathing two kids at once it's good.

How wide is the grout line?
Rake out the grout around the tile nearest the waste then use a multi tool with flat wood blade to cut through the ply, then after fixing glue or screw if you have room a couple of pieces batton for the panel to sit against and caulk it in?

4mm maybe? This sounds like a decent option / method. I agree with the consensus that there needs to be an access through the bathroom.

Ive been planning to get one of these. I have a very slow draining bath which I think is probably a blockage from the toilet. I think the previous owners were fans of them wipes you flush that apparently dont degrade.

Heard good things about these, but also that you may need a strong stomach if your unlucky

https://www.screwfix.com/p/drain-unblocker-25ft-7-6m/11325

Got one of those that looks identical for ~£8 from Amazon. Nice idea, but it wouldn't get past the right angles and got very twisted and contorted.

How about if you cut away a floorboard under one of the bath feet?
Not a good idea to get a one time access from underneath
Bite the bullet and take off the bath panel and redo with a removable panel `incase` the waste leaks in the future

Floorboards around a bath are probably the most weight bearing ones you will get in a house.
I wouldn't be attempting to do from below personally.

Starting point, can you match the tiles? If so then to me I wouldn't even be considering coming at it from below

Given the waste is in the centre and the bath feet are at each end, I don't think cutting part of a board away between joists in the centre would change how the bath load is distributed across the floor.

I guess bathroom vs. snug access comes down to a gamble over whether I think it could happen again after we redecorate the room underneath.

The tiles are actually still available at £39 for 6, so yes I can match them even if I don't have spares (there might be some in the garage). The repair bill might actually be higher to go through the bathroom, since we need the snug ceiling replacing anyway.

Don't give him the business if that is the case, unless its a cheap quote

Tbc, and I agree with the sentiment but in every other way I trust him and like his work.

 

[Participant]

Have you told the installer it's your fault? Don't see why it should be using a plunger? (surely it should be fixed fairly well?

You could try degrout one large tile, multi tool behind it as said above. Could then put back in on a shelf with some magnetic fixings (and either grout or flexi filler). Unfortunately wouldn't look as neat as you. Currently have it!

Must be frustrating if they skimped on the drain pipework too. I know you said you paid a good amount for it previously? Really irks me when trades do this (eg skimping on pipes, cables etc) when in the grand scheme of things materials cost naff all.

No I haven't, nor do I intend to because whether or not it's my fault they won't be doing it gratis. The pipework if properly affixed shouldn't be coming loose from plunging I agree (if that's what you were saying).

The magnet thing I will look into.

Yes it was an expensive bathroom; I believe they didn't replace the entire bath waste because they couldn't safely undo the ancient nuts of the old pipe outside without scaffolding.

I'd rather take the panel off then start cutting through the ceiling, and I wouldn't be impressed if the installer suggested that!

Thing is I couldn't live with a loss of the neat lines in the bathroom resulting from cutting out tiles, whereas I could live with an already trashed ceiling being further trashed and needing replacing.

 

[Participant]

...and the verdict was ? amicable ?

And the verdict was...he made some excuse and failed to show up.

You have all convinced me to rip the bath panel off and replace with an accessible equivalent. The tiles are still available.

Updates when and if I persuade the bloke to come round.

 

[Participant]

Be tempted to bin him off personally.

How handy are you? Bet we can guide you through DIY'ing it.

Go get a pack or 3 of the tiles soon, just incase they stop making them. Once bath side is removable you can stash them underneath.

Thing is he intimately knows the pipe and bath panel arrangements. Will sack him off after this.

Reasonably handy DIY wise but it needs to look pro.

 

[Participant]

Lol bantz.

Anyway brief update. The guy came round to do some investigating and we've made the following plan:

1. He's going to check by drilling a small hole from below to see the joist / board / pipe arrangement, as he's reasonably sure the waste runs beneath the bathroom floor and he just connected to that, in which case there's no point removing the bath panel until he's confirmed.

2. If confirmed then he's going to cut a hatch in the plasterboard in the room below.

3. If the waste is inaccessible from below, then he's going to try knocking off a single tile from the bath panel and cutting a hole in the fibreglass bath panel for access.

4. If 3. fails then he's going to take off the entire panel and do his best to make it both a) removable and b) look good.

The good news is that we have 11 spare tiles stashed in the garage (that I had no idea were there).

He's hoping to come round Thursday - Friday next week, so another update will follow then.

 

[Participant]

Let me show you pictures of my ceiling. The paint is sheeting off because some weapon has covered the board in PVA.

 

[Participant]

Paint just won't seem to adhere to whatever's under there.

 

[Participant]

Here's an update bath fans, since I know we all love a good bit of schadenfreude.

The bloke came round first thing this morning and we enacted our plan. First he cut a hole in the ceiling to investigate.



This confirmed that the leak was coming from above the floorboards.



Another view across the void showing heating pipes.



This made it clear we needed access from the bathroom, so blokey then smashed off a tile resulting in:



The leak was then identified as coming from the point the overflow meets the main waste trap. Apparently one of the washers was perished due to the products we put down there to dissolve the blockages causing slow drainage ><.



And here's an image showing where the new waste pipe joins onto the old and goes under the bathroom floor:



As I write he's gone off to get some bits to sort it. He's asked me to go and get the matching silicone from the showroom!

Then the plan is that he'll cut the new tile and silicone it on instead of grouting, so it's easy to pop off in future if required.

 

[Participant]

Bit of filler and sorted. Sort of.

 

[Participant]

Would be interested to know if you can actually fill that bit of ceiling to sort it. Ive got similar from aj electrician putting a hole in the wrong place and it's never looked quite right!

I'm getting the ceiling skimmed once all fixed and I've scraped the paint off, so it doesn't matter if I can hide it or not.

 

[Participant]

Ah fair, mine was onto a freshly skimmed ceiling! :X

Doh.

Anyway bloke's coming back to fix the missing tile on Monday once we've confirmed no leaks over the weekend.

 

[Participant]

Get a fan heater in there if you have one, try and dry it out.
Also wouldn’t silicone personally, would make a tiled hatch but each to their own

Good shout regards fan heater.

Pardon my ignorance but what's a tiled hatch and why is it preferable to siliconing the tile?

... good stuff
ultimately I did not understand logic of cutting ceiling - I had thought floarboards had been cut beneath bath to help with bath clearance/installation,
so this would give visibility, but if not, it was always going to be necessary to remove a tile ? so do that first.

We thought that too, and if that had been correct, we wouldn't have had to remove any tiles in the bathroom, which given a shoddy ceiling was always preferable. I think this is one of those risk / rewards payoff scenarios, whereby if the leak had been staring us in the face after we cut the hole in the ceiling, we'd have been quids in.

As it happens the leak was above the boards, making it harder, but the ultimate outcome was better than the worst case, being removal of the whole bath panel.

 

[Participant]

All back together and no leaks so far...



Hard to see how those tile hatches are undetectable once installed. I'll take my chances with the silicone method.

 

[Participant]

Just to close this one out, the tile is back on using matching silicone so it should be easily removable if any further issues:



Still no leaks so far, though the ceiling below will need stripping and a skim.